Working with tarps, helping with Mom’s wood pile. Clean up and some fall prep

Yesterday I got out to Mom’s place to replace the tarp over the chicken run. This one of those jobs that seems almost impossible to by yourself but is easy with two people. Because of Mom’s location she gets a lot of wind blowing daily and often at a brisk 20-30 mph so if a tarp last a year in that type of breeze it is a good tarp. We have noticed that the cheap “blue tarps” shred in a matter of months. We suspect that the blue tarps are not UV protected. We both have used the low cost brown and green tarps with UV protection and those tarps handle high winds/ beating solar rays. Getting 9-12 months of use out of those type tarps very is doable. Trying a new way of keeping the tarp on top of the chicken run in high winds. I ran some rope through some PVC pipe and will place that pipe in the fold of the tarp and see if that keeps the wind from getting under the tarp and moving it around on the chicken run.

Mom stopped by today and got the rest of the mill ends, 2 old pallets for the base of her wood pile. Mom’s wood storage area is a “Work in progress” but she is getting the the stuff needed to get the wood off the ground and the tarps to cover the top of the wood pile. I was able to give Mom a couple of smaller tarps that I replaced with one larger tarp over my Doug fir wood racks. I had a large tarp covering the mill end wood storage area that was a little worn around some of the edges, but is in good enough shape to keep rain and snow off the wood pile.

I got my Doug fir wood pile covered by tarps. The wood pile is in old dog kennel and is a long but narrow space so a 10 x 12 foot tarp covers most of the wood. A few of smaller tarps will cover the wood racks so the wood can dry/season but is also protected from rain and snow. The carport has over head cover and the shop and RV provide some protection from the weather. One of the trickiest things about heating with firewood is exposing fire wood to the weather/wind so it can dry/season but also protecting it from absorbing moisture while it is drying. I’m hoping that I won’t use a lot of wood to heat this winter and I can build up a multi-year wood pile of dry and seasoned wood.

Lessons I have learned:

I hate chicken wire! I understand it works and is cheap but if I want a good fencing that lasts and is easy to work with I’d go with some sort of hardware cloth for retaining small critters of a larger panel square for larger critters.

Even a cheap Dremal tool can sharpen tools and it is less intimidating than a grinder. A Dremel is not a replacement for a grinder it is just a tool for stuff.

Always try to repair things right the first time. If you think the job is beyond you call in a pro. I can replace a toilet. I can’t replace a plumbing valve that is frozen that uses copper/ plastic/steel pipes that have galvanic corrosion. I know enough to know I don’t know enough for that sort of repair.

I’m learning a little bit about some electrical work. I hate getting Zapped by electricity especially if that zap could stop my heart. If I cut power all of my outlets installed seem to work without electrical arcs.

I’ve rambled on a bit but replacing an electric plug really isn’t a big deal unless it is your first time and it works. You need to smart and research how a repair job is done properly. There is a “Fear Factor” of doing new stuff. Unless you do new stuff you will not grow as a person or add new skills. I was terrified of using a chainsaw. Now I respect the power of the chainsaw, I don’t fear using a chainsaw.

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 13th, 2019 at 8:16 pm and is filed under Energy, Money, Shelter, Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.